12.11.2015

Suspect arrested in Sikh temple vandalism

In Buena Park, California, a 20-year-old man has been arrested for the vandalism of a Sikh temple that was spray-painted with anti-Muslim profanity. Police had been investigating the incident as a hate crime.

On Wednesday, police questioned Brodie Durazo, who admitted to committing the vandalism at Gurdwara Singh Sabha last week. Community members discovered graffiti on the exterior of the temple, as well as "FUCK ISIS" and gang references spray-painted on a tractor-trailer in the temple's parking lot.

Durazo was arrested on suspicion of vandalism at a place of worship, and the case was forwarded to the Orange County District Attorney's office for review for possible additional violations.

It turns out that officers had questioned Durazo for a similar graffiti complaint at a nearby residence before responding to the report at the temple:

Brodie Durazo, 20, of Buena Park, has been arrested for the vandalism at Gurdwara Singh Sabha and a neighboring residence, according to police. On Friday, before responding to the vandalism report at the temple, officers were called to a home in the same 7100 block of Orangethorpe Avenue about a similar complaint about graffiti, reads a Buena Park Police Department statement. Officers spoke with a suspect at that time, identified as Durazo, who allegedly confessed to the residential vandalism, police say. "The reporting party did not desire prosecution with the agreement that the suspect would clean the graffiti," reads the statement. In light of the same type of "gang-style graffiti" at the neighboring temple, detectives spoke with Durazo on Wednesday, and he admitted "he had committed the vandalism on both the temple property and the tractor trailer when he committed the vandalism next door," state police. He was arrested on suspicion of vandalism at a place of worship, and the case was forwarded to the Orange County District Attorney’s office for review for possible additional violations, police say. "The Buena Park Police Department understands the sensitive nature of crimes like this and is providing extra police patrols and attention to the Sikh Temple, out of an abundance of caution," reads the statement.

Investigators say the incident could be interpreted as a hate crime, but that determination hasn't been made. It's not clear whether Durazo knew Sikhs are not Muslims -- I can't imagine it really mattered to him -- or whether he's a dumbass, or what his intentions were when he vandalized the temple.